Do you know of any good books I can read which feature families with same-sex parents? - @charlotteeedunn

Same-sex parents in children's books have always been an edgy topic and one which publishers, although often bold in other areas, have tended to avoid.

Credited with being the first children's book in the English language to show an openly homosexual couple looking after a child, Susanne Bösche's black and white picture book Jenny lives with Eric and Martin was published in English in 1983 to howls of protest from the media. Such was its challenge that, when it was found in the library of a school run by the Inner London Education Authority in 1986, the fuss exploded and the book was subsequently cited as one of the spurs to the controversial Section 28 of the Local Government Act of 1988.

Looking back, it seems surprising that Bösche's book caused such a fuss; the issues raised by a same-sex relationship, and other people's attitudes to it, are frankly aired within the context of a very 'family' situation, as Jenny spends the weekend with her father and his partner. Her mother is shown as being at ease with the set-up, too.

Bösche's intention was not to make political points but to reflect the changing make-up of families. Looking back on it, she was surprised by the resulting storm, which she described in the Guardian.

Jenny lives with Eric and Martin became such a byword for controversy about children's books that any movement to publish more was strangled. More than a decade later when Lesléa Newman's Heather Has Two Mommies was published in the US a similar outcry followed, and the book was banned from libraries in many states.

Only a little headway has been made since these challenging beginnings and there are a few titles which show same-sex parents. The best recent example is Robie H. Harris and Nadine Bernard Westcott's Who's in my Family? All About our Families, which shows families of all kinds. "Some have two mummies. Some have two daddies", they write, with appropriate illustrations.

As ever in children's books, when things get too complicated, animal characters can provide a useful way out, but even then, attempts to represent same-sex parenting can attract censure - as revealed by Justin Richardson's And Tango Makes Three, illustrated by Henry Cole.

This is a touching story of two male penguins bringing up a baby. Although published as recently as 2005, it was vilified on publication and was the most challenged book in US children's libraries in 2006, 2007, 2008 and then again in 2010.

Your responses

NickyPlease can I draw another book to your attention, one that has already been recommended for challenging stereotypes: The Great Big Book of Families by Mary Hoffman, illustrated by Ros Asquith and published by Janetta Otter-Barry books at Frances Lincoln. The illustrated description of families includes: Some children have two mummies or two daddies.

AlisonI recommend the fantastic book list from Stonewall: http://www.stonewall.org.uk/at_school/education_for_all/quick_links/education_resources/primary_school_books/4230.asp Spacegirl Pukes is a particular favourite!

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